


Can I Be Close To You?

by Thebonemoose



Series: Magnus and Lukas (beans and books, babey!) [2]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, coffee shop/bookstore au, no beta we die like archive assistants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:15:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23522179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thebonemoose/pseuds/Thebonemoose
Summary: Martin gets more accustomed to the coffee shop, and Tim makes friends with Sasha.
Relationships: Martin Blackwood & Tim Stoker
Series: Magnus and Lukas (beans and books, babey!) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1688632
Comments: 29
Kudos: 232





	Can I Be Close To You?

**Author's Note:**

> So just a PSA:  
> In this au, Jonah Magnus and Peter Lukas own a joint coffeeshop/bookstore. However, the original James Wright and the original Elias Bouchard are also there, and they're Jonah's cousins. Jonah Magnus is still a dick, James Wright is a heterosexual, and Elias is a harmless stoner. It's weird, I know, but that's what we came up with ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> The title is from the song Bloom, by the Paper Kites  
> Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

“Hey, Tim,” Martin greeted, sliding behind the counter and accepting the apron Tim held out for him. He tied it quickly, and nodded hello to Gerry, who was arranging the pastry display. 

“Hi, Martin! How was the bookshop?” Tim asked, adding whipped cream to a mug of hot chocolate, which he then placed on the counter. “Hot chocolate for Derek?” he called, and a burly man stood and grabbed the drink.

Martin shrugged, and began making a drink. “It’s fine. Same as ever.” Then his eyes widened, and he opened his mouth. “Oh, wait, no, actually! We had this really weird customer come in. He came to Sasha and I straightaway, and asked to buy half of our inventory.” 

Tim turned to look at him with a puzzled expression. “Is that half of the total number of books, or half of the total number of each specific book you have?”

Martin paused, a milk jug ready to pour into the blender, and pursed his lips. “Um… I think the second one?”

Tim frowned. “What if there’s an uneven number of books? What was his plan?”

“I don’t know, Tim, I didn’t ask,” Martin retorted. He started the blender.

Tim just shrugged and shook his head.

Martin finished the drink and topped it with whipped cream. “Anyways, he gave me his business card; apparently he’s a book collector. But I don’t know, I still don’t understand why he’d just ask for half of our books. They’re not even rare.” 

Gerry’s head snapped up. “What’s the name on the business card?” He asked, intently, the dark eyeshadow around his eyes making him seem unhinged.

Martin fumbled, trying to get it out of his pocket. “Um… Jurgen Leitner? Does...this mean something to you?”

Gerry didn’t answer, he just swore and then slammed the pastry display closed and ran out of the coffee shop.

Tim and Martin watched him dash out in stunned silence. Then Martin spoke. 

“I don’t know him that well, does he just… run out of here like that very often? And do you know who Jurgen Leitner is?”

Tim shrugged helplessly. “I’ve no idea, buddy. Jon knows Gerry best-- well, except for Gertrude, I guess. I rarely ever talk to him.”

“Huh,” Martin said, and turned back to the windows at the front of the store. He wanted to spot Gerry if he came back.

The rush came a few minutes after that, and Martin didn’t have the time to be curious about Gerry and that Leitner person. He and Tim made drinks as quickly as they could, sparing a few bitter seconds to glance at each other every so often and wish that it wasn’t Jon’s day off. 

The rush passed, eventually, and Martin made himself a tea and sat down in a booth for his break. It was at that moment that the bell above the door announced Gerry’s return: his hair flying out of his loose bun, his shirt halfway untucked, and his lipstick smudged. His face was flushed and sweaty, and Martin glanced down to see his knuckles were bloody.

Tim and Martin made immediate eye contact, and then looked back to Gerry, who was breathing heavily. He asked Tim for a cup of water, then sat down at a table close to Martin’s.

“So,” Tim began nonchalantly as he set down the cup of iced water. “What was that about?”

“I hate that guy,” Gerry said simply, and began drinking deeply from the water.

Tim looked at Martin, his brow furrowed. “Is that… all you’re going to say?” He asked, bemused.

Gerry nodded wordlessly. 

Tim nodded once, resigned. “Alright then. Have a good one, Gerry.”

“Thanks, Tim.”

Tim walked back to the counter and made pointed eye contact with Martin. Martin wasn’t entirely sure what he was trying to say, but there was a lot of nodding in Gerry’s direction, punctuated by widened eyes.

Martin shook his head helplessly, and mouthed, “I don’t know what you’re saying!”

Tim put his head in his hands. 

Gerry stood, stretched, and took his cup to the bin, then walked out with scarcely a ‘goodbye’.

“What was it you were trying to say?” Martin asked mildly, sipping his tea.

“Ugh, Martin! I was trying to get you to talk to him so we could figure out what the hell happened!”

“Wha- How was I supposed to know that?”

Tim crossed his arms. “I guess I just _wrongly_ assumed you could understand my pointed nodding!”

Martin rolled his eyes. “And anyways, what makes you think Gerry would talk to me? I know him even less than you.” 

Tim rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but you’re so approachable, everyone likes you.”

Martin could feel his face turning red. “Not everyone, clearly.”

Tim furrowed his brow. “What’s that face for?”

“I don’t have a face.”

Tim was not fooled. “Well, whatever that red thing on the front of your head is, tell it to stop looking like that. You’ll give yourself a migraine, or something.”

Martin sighed and took his empty mug to the sink in the kitchen. Tim followed closely behind. 

“What if I kept bothering you until you told me what was going on?”

“Then you’d get fired for not doing your job.” Martin leaned back against the kitchen counter. 

“Martin, please. I’d obviously take short breaks in order to serve customers. And also, Elias would never fire me, he loves me,” Tim said, entirely too smug.

At Martin’s disturbed face, Tim groaned, and said “Okay, not like that, Martin. And anyways, just tell me.”

“I can't, I've forgotten what you wanted to know,” Martin answered honestly, with more than just a hint of self-satisfaction.

Tim smirked. “Lucky for me, I have not. Why did you turn red when I said that everyone likes you?” 

Martin sighed, and gave in. “Well, obviously, it’s because not everyone likes me.” He threw his arms up in exasperation. “Happy now?”

“Who? I want their names and addresses.I swear I just want to talk,” Tim grinned, and Martin tried to stifle his laugh. “No, but seriously, who?”

Martin sighed. “Well, Jon, for starters.”

Tim seemed perturbed. “Jon? Has he been giving you trouble again? I already talked to him once, I won’t hesitate to do it again.”

“No, it’s fine-- wait, you talked to Jon about me?” 

Tim nodded. 

Martin felt oddly flattered. “What, er, what did you say?” He tried to sound casual, but he doubted it came through.

“Just like, ‘stop picking on the new guy, he’s really nice and you’re being a dick’, that kind of thing.”

“Oh,” Martin said, a strange warmth blooming in his chest. He hadn’t really had anyone stand up for him before, much less to someone who was technically their boss. “Thanks, Tim,” Martin said sincerely. 

Tim shrugged and waved it off. “Jon’s an ass, but he’s a good person deep down. If he’s being a prick I’ll talk to him again, though,” he offered easily. 

Martin shook his head quickly. “No, no, Jon’s been… Well, definitely better since you talked to him. He’s not, uh, _nice_ , exactly, but he’s not rolling his eyes at me in poorly disguised frustration every five minutes, either.”

“That’s the sweet spot,” Tim said with a grin. 

Martin chuckled. “I guess so. Look, the point is he’s acting fine, he just hates me.”

Tim made a noise of disbelief. “He doesn’t hate you.” 

Martin pursed his lips. “He definitely does, but alright.”

“Jon doesn’t hate anyone. Except Jonah Magnus. And Lukas. He’s not super fond of Nikola, either. And he can’t stand Jared. Or Annabelle. Also Jude. Well, alright, he hates most of our customers, and also the CEOs. But who doesn’t hate customers and CEOs? They’re the worst kinds of people.”

“That’s... Fair, I suppose. I still don’t think he likes me in particular very much, though.”

“Well, he doesn’t like anyone very much, except me of course.”

Martin snorted. “And Sasha.” 

Tim cocked his head. “Huh, you’re right. He does seem to have a soft spot for Sasha. Hey, you’re at the coffee shop again tomorrow, right?”

Martin nodded slowly. “Yeah, why?”

“I’m hatching a plan.”

“Oh, please god, no.”

“Martin, I could not find a more unwilling recipient of my kindness if I tried. You are ungrateful.”

“And you’ve been hanging out with Jon too much.”

“Oh, shit, you’re right,” Tim said with a look of vague horror. Martin just laughed, and they returned to the front of the store in order to do their actual jobs, for once. 

“Heyyyyy, boss!” 

Jon tensed up instantly. “Tim,” he said evenly, without looking at the man who had come up behind him.

Martin thought he was doing a pretty good job of not showing Tim how wary he was. 

Tim put a hand on Jon’s back. “Why so tense? Work got you down?”

_Well, evidently not_ , Martin thought.

Jon cleared his throat and shimmied away from Tim’s touch, which had the unintended consequence of putting him in Martin’s personal space. 

Martin wasn’t sure if he should move away from Jon, or if that would be rude. He didn’t want to draw attention to himself. But also, being this close to a man who strongly disliked him was difficult for Martin. 

“--s fine, Tim. What do you want?” Jon asked unhappily. 

Oh, right. Martin shouldn’t be worried about this, he should be paying attention to Tim’s mysterious and probably hare-brained scheme.

“Whoa there, Jon! I just have a few questions to ask.” Tim’s tone was pleasant and his smile was easy, but Jon did not look soothed. 

“Hurry up, then.”

“So… you’re familiar with Sasha?” Tim asked innocently.

Martin furrowed his brow. He wasn’t sure where this was going.

“Sasha James? Our coworker? Yes, I’m familiar,” Jon replied sarcastically.

“Perfect! And how would you define your relationship to this woman?” Tim was unfazed by Jon’s suspicious look.

Jon raised an eyebrow. “Coworkers.”

“Really? Not friends, or…” Tim leaned in close to Jon’s ear, and stage-whispered, “...Lovers?”

Jon scoffed and backed away. “Really, Tim? You’ve come to harass me into admitting a made-up crush on a coworker?” Jon shook his head and walked out of the kitchen.

Tim and Martin followed, and Tim kept teasing Jon about his friendship with Sasha, but Martin wasn’t paying attention. He was too focused on the uncomfortable relief he felt when Jon scoffed. He liked Sasha, she was a good worker and an even better person, and she never complained when he had to help out at the coffee shop. He had no issue with her. So why did he care so much that Jon _wasn’t_ dating her?

Realization slowly dawned on Martin, and he felt his cheeks heating up. Oh no. This was _not_ good. Jon, of all people? Who was rude, and inconsiderate, and, and… Well, frankly, he _was_ nice to look at, but Martin had higher standards than that! Like, for example, nice people who wouldn’t yell at him for spilling whipped cream everywhere.

And it was only _one_ time!

But then again, Jon wasn’t _all_ bad. Martin had seen him smile at Tim’s jokes a few times, even though he tried to hide it. And he was very close with Sasha; he always seemed to make her laugh. Or chuckle, at least. 

“Martin? Where’d you go?” Tim asked, waving his hand in front of Martin’s face.

“Huh? Oh, sorry. Just thinking. What were you talking about?” Martin was sure his attempt at nonchalance was not convincing and the slightest, and he was positive Tim had seen his flushed face. 

He didn’t call him on it, though. “Just asking Jon why he likes Sasha better than us,” Tim replied easily, and Jon rolled his eyes. 

“Obviously because Sasha is actually competent, unlike you two.” 

Tim just looked at Jon with a knowing smile. “Whatever you say, boss,” he said with barely restrained glee. 

Jon just sighed and committed himself to rearranging cups.

Tim sent Martin a wink and a thumbs up, which Martin returned, albeit somewhat awkwardly. 

“What are you doing here, Tim?” Sasha asked, without looking up from her book. 

“I made Martin switch with me so I could talk to you about a pressing matter.” Tim smiled pleadingly.

Sasha narrowed her eyes at him.“I don’t believe you at all, but continue.”

He clapped his hands together once. “Wonderful. What would you say if I told you that Jon had a massive crush on you?”

Sasha barked out a laugh, quick and sharp. “I wouldn’t believe a word of it.”

“Good, because it’s not true at all. What is true is that he likes you as a friend, and that’s stupendous because he doesn’t like anybody as a friend. Well, me, but I hardly gave him a choice in the matter.” Tim grinned. 

She looked at him, her eyebrows raised. “...Okay?”

“I came here for two reasons: Firstly, to give Martin and Jon some one-on-one in order to get more accustomed to each other, and t--”

“Tim, they’ve been working together multiple days a week for over a month. I think they’ve had enough time together.” Sasha was frowning, and Tim distantly thought she still looked nice, which he knew from experience was difficult to pull off. He’d spent many hours in front of a mirror trying to train his face to look beautiful even when frowning. It was, ultimately, a waste of time. 

“Well, more can’t hurt then, can it? And secondly, I came here to get to know you, Ms. James, better. The four of us are core staff for the old fucks in charge, and I think we should get to know each other. You know, in case we need to unionize, or something.”

“Magnus and Lukas are _not_ that old, and also, four people does not make much of a union, Tim.” Sasha turned back to her book. 

Shit, he was losing her. 

“Look, you make a valid point, but the facts are, I am currently here, and Martin is currently not. Let’s move on, shall we?”

Sasha snorted, and shrugged. She closed the book and placed it on the shelf, then moved to the next aisle over. Tim stayed where he was.

He looked around awkwardly. “So… should I come with you, or…?”

“What? Why would you come with me? Nothing in this bookstore requires two people to complete,” Sasha said from the other aisle. Tim shifted his weight from foot to foot for a second, then groaned and joined Sasha in the other aisle.

“I don’t like it, I want to be around people. How about I just go where you go, and… help.”

Sasha didn’t sound convinced. “Help?”

“Yeah, like… Put books on the tall shelves?” He gave his most charming smile. It didn’t seem to work. 

“Tim, we both know how this is going to go. I’m going to end up doing all the work (like I would have anyways if the three of you were at the coffee shop) and you’re going to do nothing but sit there and get paid to look pretty.”

Tim preened and didn’t bother trying to hide his smile. “Aw, Sasha, You think I’m pretty?”

Sasha threw a book at him. 

He gasped overdramatically. “Sasha! You could have killed me!”

“Oh, no. Whatever will I do,” she said blandly, and Tim tried to stifle his grin. 

Tim did end up following her around for the rest of their shift, but he helped a bit. Mostly, he put books on the top shelf. Sasha didn’t bother thanking him, but that was fine. He liked her anyway. 

At the end of their shift, Sasha grabbed her bag from the break room and waved goodbye, a small, crooked smile on her face. He grinned, and did finger guns. She rolled her eyes. Still, he could tell he was growing on her. 

On the way out, Tim ran into Elias, smoking a… ‘cigarette’. They both knew it was far too aromatic to be tobacco, and Elias didn’t even bother hiding it.

“Heyy, double boss!” Tim said. Elias turned to him and grinned. 

“Tim! How’s it going?” He asked pleasantly. 

Tim shrugged. “”S alright. I did want to talk to you, actually,” he said, and Elias frowned. “Um, nothing bad, though?”

“Oh. Alright, go ahead.” Elias took another drag of his joint, and coughed on the exhale. 

“Well, I wanted to mention possibly adding Martin to the coffee shop staff? Officially, I mean. We think his talents are wasted in the book store.”

Elias turned to look at him, surprised. “We? You spoke to Jon about this?”

Tim froze. “Er… Yep?”

Elias shrugged and put the joint to his lips again. “Well, I have no problem with it. You’re all lovely workers. I’ll bring it up to James soon. Is that all?”

Tim nodded, a bit dazed. “Yeah, that- that’s all. Have a good one, Elias.”

“Thanks, Tim. You, too.”

Tim shook his head and left, confused but ultimately triumphant. Whether or not Elias would come through was a different matter entirely.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to everyone for reading, comments and kudos are always appreciated :)
> 
> Also, this au was conceived in a tma discord I am in, so thanks to everyone there who collaborated in creating this absolutely outrageous au. Y'all are heroes of our generation.


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